How to create a great media strategy - and why everyone must get on board with it

A good media strategy aims to get company messages to all your audiences in order to support business goals, whatever those may be. And the beauty of a good media strategy is that it can help shape how everyone in the company communicates - and ideally helps people beyond your business explain what you do too. 

The ‘ah, I’ve heard of them’ phenomenon can get in full flow.

To help this, everyone singing from the same hymn sheet is vital. People need to be talking about the same values and benefits of your offer so messages can become far clearer to the external world. Prospective customers, future employees and investors, let alone the media, can better understand.

You want purpose, clarity and reiteration - otherwise you run the risk of communications becoming fragmented so they don’t resonate with your target audiences.

Here are the six components that must work in harmony in order to create a cohesive media strategy:

• Company objectives

• Key audiences

• Core messages

• Delivery channels

• Team unity

• Assessment 

Company Objectives

To begin with, know your company goals as well as the specific targets you must hit in order to reach them. Your objectives may be broader (e.g. raising brand awareness, building trust and increasing leads) but your targets should be more particular so you’re able to assess whether you reached them or not. You may want to increase your share of voice in the HR media for example, aim to increase the amount of coverage you gain, improve your engagement levels on social media or increase backlinks for SEO. The more specific you can go, the more measurable they become and the easier it will be to assess your progress.

You can then use these objectives to guide the rest of your strategy.

Key Audience

Once you have your goals in place you can identify who you must deliver messages to in order to achieve them. Narrow down the target audience of your strategy - attempting to reach too many people will lead to messaging that is too broad and ultimately resonates with no one. Therefore, agreeing on the core elements that identify your target audience will allow for a highly targeted and structured media strategy.

‘Identifiers’ should include:

• Audience demographics

• Needs and interests

• Job roles

• Key channels they consume messages on

Pinpointing this then allows you to pick the best channels to deliver your media strategy and the messages that will resonate most with potential customers.

Delivery Channels

Nowadays, PR media strategies no longer consist of traditional media relations only, they also include other formats, such as:

• Traditional and digital media relations (gaining coverage in print and online publications)

• Social media strategy

• SEO enhancement

• Content writing

• Award wins

• Internal comms

Your media strategy should ideally include several (if not all) of these channels. But, however many you use, the key to getting great results is, 1) understanding which channels will enable you to reach your target audience, 2) being able to appreciate the methods and tactics that work best on different channels to successfully deliver messages, and 3) ensuring that your messages remain unified and consistent across all channels even though they may be delivered in different formats.

Core Messages

It’s absolutely essential that your company agrees on the core messages that you want to put out in the world. Your messages should be structured to suit your targets - and ‘structured’ really is the key word here: you don’t want wishy-washy messages. You need messages that are specific and purposefully work towards your goals.

To do this you must provide clarity for your target audience. For example, showcasing how your business/product/service works, explaining the benefits of your organisation and highlighting any need-to-know information. Beyond this, your messages should also emphasise your company values, allowing target audiences to resonate with your offerings. 

(And, don’t forget: a lot of people won’t know anything about your business so don’t assume any knowledge on their part - make it simple and to the point, leaving no room for confusion about who you are, what you do and what you want your target audience to do next.)

The strength behind a cohesive media strategy is messaging that is clear and consistently reiterated. Clarity provides comprehension but reiteration ensures people ‘hear’ and resonate with your messaging over time - once is not always enough to drive home the importance of your work. Consistent communication serves as a steady reminder of the value you offer.

Team Unity

Establishing each of the components mentioned is a necessary foundation to your media strategy. Yet beyond this, getting your whole team on board is wise. Sales, marketing, external communication agencies and business leaders, of course, as well as all other team members must be included. Help everyone understand and get on board with the same core messages. 

When everyone is in harmony here, communications become streamlined, they work towards a common goal and can be consistently reiterated to all audiences, by all your people.

You’ll want to avoid fragmented communications - if teams are unclear about what’s being externally communicated, then there’s a high chance your messages and audience will become confused too.

Assessment

Once you’ve put your strategy to work, looking back and assessing progress is important. It’s good practice to analyse as you go, checking if you’re hitting targets and meeting goals. This provides the perfect opportunity to revise your strategy, refining targets, messages and tactics to ensure a cohesive plan continues to meet objectives.

For help developing a great media strategy for your company and team, get in touch - we’ll discuss the best routes forward to help you achieve your goals.